RJHS project finalist in contestA class project assigned in an engineering class at the Russellville Junior High School could result in the school receiving over a thousand dollars in grant money after one of the student’s projects was selected as a finalist in Raytheon’s nationwide Build It Better Contest. Rachel Cogburn, an engineering teacher at RJHS, assigned the class a project after receiving an email asking students to submit ideas for a project. The criteria was open...

Arkansas Tech University Spring commencement to be this weekendArkansas Tech University will celebrate its Class of 2013 with four graduation ceremonies at John E. Tucker Coliseum in Russellville this weekend. Arkansas Tech will host a commencement ceremony for its Graduate College at 7 p.m. on Friday. Graduates from the College of Applied Sciences and the College of Arts and Humanities will walk in a 10 a.m. ceremony on Saturday. The 2 p.m. Saturday commencement will feature graduates from the College of...

Small Wash. school closes because of nice weather SEATTLE (AP) — In a sun-deprived part of Washington state, the promise of nice spring weather prompted a small private school to give students a day off to enjoy the sunshine. Friday is a “sun day” of sorts for the 205 students at Bellingham Christian School, a small, private, nondenominational Christian school in Bellingham, Wash., about 90 miles north of Seattle. “SCHOOL CANCELLED DUE TO GREAT WEATHER! WAHOOO!” the school’s website announced...

Project teaches RHS students problem solving, collaboration“It was a one-of-a-kind experience.” Those were the words Mari Hayes, an engineering teacher at the Russellville High School, used to describe the virtual partnership project, a project students in her introduction to engineering classes have undertaken over the last three weeks that required long-distance collaboration and saw its fair share of challenges. The program, which included high schools from six different states, paired up schools t...

Pottsville High Cinco de Mayo FiestaPottsville High School juniors and seniors from Spanish II participated in their annual Cinco de Mayo Fiesta for Pottsville middle grade students Tuesday afternoon. The high school students have been learning about Hispanic culture and the history of Mexico and did all the research and preparatory work for creating crafts and games for this event.

Atkins teenager’s bond $50,000 for alleged threatATKINS — The community and its high school students and teachers are safe today after a threat was discovered written on a bathroom wall at the high school on Tuesday morning. An Atkins High School juvenile male student was arrested Tuesday afternoon for the alleged felony of falsely communicating a terroristic threat. His bond was set at $50,000 Wednesday by District Judge Don Bourne. The juvenile, a sophomore at Atkins High School, is requir...

Holocaust survivors, veterans gather at DC museum WASHINGTON (AP) — Elderly survivors of the Holocaust and the veterans who helped liberate them are gathering for what could be their last big reunion at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. Some 1,000 survivors and World War II vets are coming together with President Bill Clinton and Elie Wiesel, a Holocaust activist and writer, on Monday when the museum marks its 20th anniversary. Organizers chose not to wait for the 25th milestone because man...

Lottery hopes to boost revenue, profit marginLITTLE ROCK (AP) — A bill that would have required the Arkansas lottery to turn at least a 25 percent annual profit didn’t make it out of committee this year, but the lottery director said Monday he expects similar bills to be proposed in future legislative sessions. “We were very fortunate to get that bill defeated,” lottery Director Bishop Woosley said. Woosley spoke to the Arkansas Lottery Commission, which met Monday in Little Rock. The lo...

Teachers retire after 70 years of combined experienceGlenda Knost and Anne Harelson began teaching at Sequoyah Elementary at about the same time more than 35 years ago. And although their careers have taken vastly different trajectories, they will also end their careers at the same time, choosing to retire at the end of this school year. Sequoyah will hold a reception for the two at the school library at 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday remembering the two teachers who have influenced thousands of lives i...

Arrest made in Atkins High School bomb threatATKINS — The Pope County Sheriff's Office (PCSO) arrested an Atkins High School student late Tuesday afternoon who Sheriff Aaron DuVall said was involved with a bomb threat made that morning at Atkins High School. The arrest was made at about 5 p.m. in connection with the bomb threat that occurred Tuesday morning and caused the evacuation of Atkins High School students and staff before classes began for the day. "A white juvenile male student ...

$8 million awarded to 3 school districtsThree Arkansas River Valley school districts will receive state funds for construction projects at their facilities. On Wednesday, the Commission for Arkansas Public School Academic Facilities and Transportation approved more than $130 million to fund more than 100 projects at schools statewide, and $8 million of those funds were allocated for schools in Pope and Yell counties. Dover, Danville and Dardanelle all received funding from the state...

Therapy dogs help Montana students with test stress BOZEMAN, Mont. (AP) — At Montana State University, final exams stress is going to the dogs. The Bozeman Daily Chronicle reported Intermountain Therapy Animals is bringing dogs to campus this week and next to help students take a break from the stress of studying for and taking semester exams. Jacqueline Frank is the Renne Library commons assistant who started the “Paws to de-Stress” program this semester. She said research shows that animals c...

Arkansas Tech Opera Workshop performs Sunday nightThe Arkansas Tech University Opera Workshop will offer a performance entitled “An Evening of Opera Choruses” at Witherspoon Auditorium on Sunday. The show will begin at 7:30 p.m. Admission will be free and open to the public. “The program will consist of scenes taken from famous operas and operettas that utilize the opera chorus,” said Dr. Jon F. Clements, director of the Arkansas Tech Opera Workshop and assistant professor of music. “Selectio...

Cyclone Theatre to put on ‘Beauty and the Beast’ in MayThe Russellville High School Cyclone Theatre will perform Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast” three times in early May at the Russellville Center for the Arts The performances will take place on at 7 p.m. May 2 and 4 and at 2 p.m. on May 5. Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for students and children, and will become available an hour and a half prior to the showing. “Beauty and the Beast,” originally a 1991 film based on the fairy tale by Jeanne M...

Chandler, Binz, Mann named school principalsIn addition to Sheila Jacobs’ appointment as RHS principal, the Russellville School District named principals at three other schools during its monthly meeting Monday night. The district hired Tami Chandler, Laura Binz and Gina Mann to principal positions at three elementary schools in the district. “We are so fortunate in our district to have three qualified people like this available to take these positions,” superintendent Randall Williams ...

30 years after report, schools remain at risk WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. students are falling behind their international rivals. Young people aren’t adept at new technology. America’s economy will suffer if schools don’t step up their game. “A Nation at Risk,” the report issued 30 years ago this week by President Ronald Reagan’s Education Department, was meant as a wake-up call for the country. It spelled out where the United States was coming up short in education and what steps could be tak...

RHS hires Sheila Jacobs permanentlyThe Russellville School District hired Sheila Jacobs as the new principal of Russellville High School during Monday night’s school board meeting. Jacobs will find the position a familiar one — she’s has been the interim principal since early March after former principal Sammy Ussery resigned due to health issues. She had also worked as the school’s assistant principal in the two months leading up to her hiring as interim principal. “Being name...

Arkansas Tech establishes LEAD 21, a leadership programKindergarten-12 schools in central and eastern Arkansas will soon have enhanced leadership capacity because of a new program offered through Arkansas Tech University. LEAD 21 is a new initiative by the Arkansas Tech Center for Leadership and Learning that will make the Arkansas Tech Master of Education degree in educational leadership available to selected teachers in Pulaski County and the Delta region of Arkansas through a blended format of ...

ATU celebrates seventh Enactus region titleWith seven region championships since 2003, the Enactus student organization at Arkansas Tech University has done its best to fill the College of Business trophy case at Rothwell Hall. The latest Enactus region championship trophy was brought home to Russellville by Arkansas Tech students following competition at Dallas, Texas, on April 10. It was the fifth such award that Tech students have captured in the last six years. The region title was...

Kicking butts for Earth Day 2013 in DoverDOVER — On Friday, while at Dover Elementary for an assembly, Pope County Judge Jim Ed Gibson proclaimed Monday as Kick Butts Day in Pope County in an effort to include cigarette litter and pollution control as part of this year’s Earth Day initiative in the Arkansas River Valley. Gibson read the proclamation after Dover third-graders presented a 20-minute presentation about the dangers and of second-hand smoke and cigarette butt litter during...